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About the Site Founder

Mental health and infertility awareness blogger; helping to break down the stigma's of these so called of taboo subjects.
A lot of the information is sourced from my own personal experiences and as well as consulting with others.
I have a passion to share information and I created Butterflies and Fire to do just that. I am working with individuals to help share their stories to make people aware of the person behind the "label."
Butterflies and Fire is my personal expression about how depression makes me feel. Some days I'm happy and free like a butterfly in spring but then there are days when it feels like my brain, heart and soul are alight with an uncontrollable burn of self loathing. Depression doesn't define me though and I have come to realise my demons and work with them. So now it is time for me to help someone else do the same. If I can help just that one person I will be forever happy. Then hopefully that person will help someone else and so on. #PayItForward

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Healthy dog happy owner – why dog food quality is important

As you have gathered from some of my blog articles I am the owner of a fabulous beagle called Oskar. Over the last 4 years we have tried so many brands of dog food. Here I am going to give you a synopsis of our experiences with each brand.

Royal Canin

High end budget. This is pretty bland looking dog food. It’s packed with lots of nutrients which are suppose to be really good for your pooch. The main reason for purchase was for weight control which it did but I think that was more to do with Oskar deciding not to eat his food on some days.

The business end – lots and lots of slushy poops! Not the greatest for cleaning up, in fact he seemed to go to the toilet a lot more on this food than any other brand we tried.

Flavour choices – what flavour choices it’s just dog breed or size range to choose from. There are various breeds available from Dalmatian to beagles. The size range is split into five categories from extra small to giant you simply select the size based on your pooches weight in kilograms:

We thought we’d try the dog food as the cats got on so well with the pets at home brand. Unfortunately Oskar threw up a few times so we terminated and bought something else.

Iams

In the same category as royal canin. Gave Oskar a lovely shiny coat but the negative was the bad breath <vomit>

Bakers

Similar to royal canin this gave regular bowel movements of the soggy kind and some days he would be terribly constipated to the point it brought tears to my eyes watching him trying to go.

He did eat every bowl. His coat was nice and shiny but no good for weight management. His wind was terrible but that was probably due to the constipation.

Tails.com

We loved that the bags were designed based on Oskar’s nutritional requirements and his name was printed on bag. This is an online option of dog food which allows you to manage your subscription options. It will auto re-order so you don’t run out of dog food.

Oskar was doing really well in this food. Lost weight and gained a shiner coat but he never seemed truly satisfied. Always on the look for more food. Yes I know beagles are greedy little buggers but after you’ve owned one for a while you can sense when its hunger or greed (a bit like a crying baby lol). The price also started to rise the more food you required.

Another product that was good was the dog dental sticks you could order at the same time. Oskar definitely liked them.

ENVE

We actually trialled this food as part of a winning competition. We hadn’t heard of this brand before not even via other friends on social media. The packaging is bland but who cares it’s what’s inside that matters. Well from Oskar’s first mouthful to the end of the bag he was happy. He never ignored a meal and actually seemed satisfied after a bowl. He didn’t need to drink twenty gallons of water afterwards either which leads me to think it’s full of actual nutrients. The flavour variety is amazing – better choices than baby food. Who would have thought pork sweet potato and apple could be a dog food.

The food is also grain free which might be a reason Oskar’s business end doesn’t smell as much! It’s not quite roses but in comparison to other dog food it might as well be.

Price wise it’s pretty much level par with premium dog food varieties however, you can purchase a 2kg trial bag for £7.99 and the price will be taken off a large bag if you opt to purchase. Also every 7th bag is free so for an average dog that’s nearly 2 free bags a year. 15kg bags are £50.99 with free postage.

Wagg

I liked that the biscuit sizes where large as it made the bowl appear a lot fuller, so to a beagle this looks much better. Obviously the downside to this is you have to weigh out the portion sizes as the scoops can be misleading.

The size also helped for using as reward treats when teaching Oskar a new trick. Negative side of the dog food – terrible bowel movements!! Stinky wind and nasty poos.